Some years ago, while researching an article for Walrus Magazine on art theft, Joshua Knelman interviewed a convicted art thief in a local restaurant. While providing some quotable patter, the thief threatened to break Knelman’s legs if he used his real name, and handed him some rolled-up items, which proved to be stolen artworks, now…
Month: May 2012
The Barsh family fondly recalls its musical past
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From the Canadian Jewish News, May 16, 1985 The Barsh family is a link between the fascinating worlds of Yiddish theatre and music in Toronto. The family lived in four rooms above their barber shop and pool hall at 305 Spadina Avenue, a few doors north of the old Jewish Standard Theatre at Dundas and…
Peterborough Jewish community comes to life (2000)
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The Beth Israel Synagogue will be rededicated on September 24, 2000, in celebration of the rejuvenated Jewish life here. It cost $250,000 to renovate the synagogue, three times what the original Beth Israel cost to build in 1964, said community elder Isidore Black, 85, son of Philip Black. Philip was the first rabbi of Peterborough,…
King of Spadina, Harry Henig dies at 91 (2000)
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Known as the “King of Spadina,” Harry Henig operated a women’s wear store for 30 years and then began a second career as an author. He died recently (2000) at the age of 91. Henig retired from the Fashion Centre at St. Clair Avenue and Dufferin Street in 1980 and proceeded to write seven books.…
Josef Krystal, 74, Labour Zionist activist (2000)
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Josef Krystal, who was national president of the Labour Zionist Alliance of Canada, died recently (2000) after a long illness. He was 74. Owner of the Krystal Cap Company, he was active in the business until he became ill. His son Steven, who worked with him in the business for 20 years, is continuing to…
Lillian Gollom, loyal Mount Sinai volunteer (d. 2000)
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Lillian Gollom, a volunteer at the old Mount Sinai Hospital on Yorkville Avenue, died recently (2000) at age 97, on the same date as her late husband, Nathan died, 19 years ago. A member of The Sinais, the volunteers at the old hospital, she carried patients up and down stairs. When the new hospital was…
First synagogue for Barrie, Ontario (2000)
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The Jewish community in Barrie, which has grown to 100 families, has already raised $100,000 from its own members to build the city’s first synagogue. “We hope it will be a rallying point and attract more Jews to Barrie so that we will have 200 to 300 families,” said Eric Allen, executive member of the…
Obit: David Gold, joined Jewish Brigade (d. 1984)
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Fought with Jewish Brigade during WWI David Gold, one of few surviving fighters in the Jewish Brigade which fought in Palestine in World War One, died in Toronto in March 1984 at the age of 91, the Canadian Jewish News reported in its issue of April 12, 1984. Gold was born in Jassy, Romania and…
Memorial to Rabbi Israel Hurwitz of Toronto (d. 1979)
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Rabbi Israel Levi Hurwitz was born in Grodno province of Lithuania in 1893, the son of Simon Aaron and Chaya Hurwitz. He was educated in the Novogrodok and other yeshivot. He was active in Vilna as an orator and became a “shaliach” to Canada for a yeshivah in Hebron, Eretz Israel. In 1933, according to…
Samuel Kernerman at 101: a man of three centuries
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For a man who has lived in three centuries, Samuel Kernerman, who will be 101 years old on January 19, 2000, has a simple request. “I just want to see my great-grandchildren grow up,” he said. He has 28 great-grandchildren. Interviewed at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre veterans wing, Kernerman, a veteran of World War…
